By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great local journalism.

Area homeless agency board members quit as same-sex couple applies

Church also pulls support from organization

From The Times of Gainesville

By Joshua Silavent

Updated:
May 12, 2016, 4:57 p.m.

GAINESVILLE — Half the members resigned last week from the board of a local nonprofit that pairs homeless families with church hosts just as a same-sex couple was being welcomed into the program.

“People have left,” Rustin Smith, a Gainesville attorney and acting president of the Family Promise of Hall County board, told The Times. “That is the issue we were discussing. The disagreements came about ... the issues related with accepting them.”

A few left for other reasons, he added.

None of the board members contacted for this story responded to requests for comment.

Lakewood Baptist Church, attended by several of those who resigned, has pulled its support as a host in the wake of the departures.

Officials with Lakewood Baptist Church have declined to comment.

Family Promise, which provides case management, consulting and advocacy, partners with about 10 other churches to house and feed homeless families. The local affiliate is part of a national organization that says it helps 50,000 homeless people annually.

The families rotate weekly among the churches for 90 days, and Family Promise has launched an affordable housing program to assist families who “graduate.”